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Saturday, January 10, 2015

Winter Term

I really don't like waiting five days to post, but this first week of Winter term was hectic, and I had to put blogging aside for a few days so that I could get some things done for school and work. Once I create routine, I can blog most everyday, and hopefully I won't run out of good ideas for blog posts. Anyway, I wanted to document my first week of Winter term. I have been to all of my classes, and I enjoy them all immensely.

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have a biology lecture in a flipped classroom, and then a lab on Wednesdays, and lecture. It is such a different experience when you have had a background with biology. I have had a large biology background, so I am excited to dive into a college biology course. The labs seem fun, and the lectures are more of an activity, due to the flipped classroom. A flipped classroom is opposite of sitting in front of an instructor and listening to lectures; a student does not retain information very well through lectures, my biology instructor has changed up her teaching methods into a flipped classroom, where the students gather information outside of class through other resources, and in class we reflect upon it through discussion, and a classroom activity. This flipped classroom concept promotes creativity, and retaining information rather than cramming memorization in at the last minute, and then forgetting it an hour after the test. I believe that I will enjoy this flipped classroom. See, last term with chemistry, I had no chemistry background, and I started off from scratch basically, and hit the ground running. It was a struggle, but this time around, it is so different. I am going to enjoy biology.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I begin my day with a 7:00 am yoga class. I am already enjoying it, and I am only two class days in. My yoga instructor is very playful with her teaching, she doesn't scorn if you aren't doing the pose right. She wants us to play with the pose, and do whatever makes us comfortable. I really enjoy that. I am also not all that flexible. I knew I wasn't before the class, but it was really made known during the class. I am sure I will become more flexible while we progress in the class, but for now, I am using it to destress my life, and it is helping me to keep worry out of my life. I stress about every aspect of my life, and it is due to the clock. I watch the clock much too much. On my drives to and from school to home, or home to work, I tell myself to not look at the clock, not even once. I tell myself to listen to the country music on the radio, sing along with it, focus on the road, and think of nothing but the road. I am feeling so much better, I feel release in the car, and much less stress in my life. I can feel my body hurt when I stress. That saying "worry yourself sick" has a lot of truth, and I don't want to get that way. This yoga class that I am taking is a blessing in my life. My instructor is also giving us words of the day, she wants us to apply those words to our lives, and I love that idea. On the first day of class, our word was "open," and I was applying it left and right. Be open to new friendships, be open to conversation, be open to smiles, be open to new things in life. I will keep applying it to my life even after the class. Our second word for the second day of class was "breath" or "breathe," we learned about how to correctly breathe, and the different yoga poses to aid correct breathing. That whole day, I practiced breathing breathing through the nose, and out the nose. Keeping the heat in; when you breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth, you release your body's heat, and your body's moisture. Through the Winter, you need to hold onto those things as much as possible. Throughout that day, on Thursday, I practiced my breathing, and I every time I inhaled, I felt a cleansing breath, and every time I exhaled, I felt all of the negative thoughts, the toxins, and everything that isn't needed in my life leave and disintegrate in the air. Breath is something so needed, so important, and it is free. I am very excited about yoga class on Tuesday; excited for the word of the day, and excited to destress my life further.

Along with my yoga classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have ceramics and anthropology courses. I am in an intermediate ceramics course, and the community in the ceramics class is such a beautiful thing. I understand my ceramics instructor is not a big of fan chattiness, but I am a social person. I do my work, and I get to know my classmates. It is a beautiful thing to form relationships. Back in high school, I felt that everyone was sort of against letting people into their little groups, but college is so much different. There are no "groups," and people are so much more welcoming, and willing to talk. I love it. Right now, my project in ceramics is to form mugs with handles. I have decided to hand build half of my mugs, and throw the other half. I am planning on making twelve mugs, some the same, and some different. I am so excited to see how they turn out. After ceramics, I have anthropology with the same anthropology instructor I had last term. She is such a hoot, and she is so interesting. I am a person who loves to listen and take notes, I love writing things down on paper, and the feeling of the pen gliding on the paper. I am a bit overdramatic when it comes to describing note taking. I really like it. I ended up renting my textbook for a small sum of $30, I get a physical textbook, and I get free shipping to send it back to the company. I am always looking for cheap ways to grab up my textbook, but I know to be careful.

My first week of my second term was delightful, and so much different than my first term. I can already tell that it is going to be fun, rather than stressful, and scary. I feel the stress leaving my life slowly, and I do feel healthier. This term will be a happy thing for me. I am going to blog more, I really don't like taking a break from it, but it is needed. I have some fun posts coming up, and I am excited to share them with you all. Along with destressing my life, I am also trying to make my life greener with the things I use. I will be posting about that tomorrow. Things are well, and I hope that things are all well with my readers. Have a great weekend all.

I just wanted touch a little bit on the photos shown, these photos were taken over the Summer, when the sunsets are most beautiful. I felt they were relevant because destressing my life is like a beautiful sunset, the process is beautiful to me, but it is cleansing out the day, and diffusing into night so there can be a new day. I felt the photos and the process I am going through right now were related.

Welcome

I'm Courtney. Welcome! This is my little slice of the web where I can document my life and talk about my interests. My blog targets an array of subjects. I love to write about fashion and beauty, crafts, projects, and life. I hope you enjoy looking through my blog.